Peace
by tigress33
Summary: **COMPLETE** A short fic taking place after the last episode (Shane in closet one). Focuses on Jess, why he's in a relationship with Shane, and what happens next. Spoilers Jess/Rory
1. Letting Luke In, Leaving Shane Out

Author's Note: Hi everyone! I didn't expect to be writing a GG fic again so soon, but something in the last episode really bothered me. You know, the conversation between Luke and Jess about Shane being in the closet. I just felt really, really bad for Jess that he had to find comfort in a girl he didn't care about just to try to get over Rory. Anyway, this is gonna be a really short fic, just so I can put my thoughts down and be done with it. Hope you enjoy it and check out my other stories too! Please Read/Review and let me know what you think about Jess on the show, besides the fact that he's a hottie. =)

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"You're actually back home at a decent time," Luke remarked as Jess entered the apartment around ten in the evening.

"What can I say? I just like to be a model teenager whom all those young impressionable kids can look up to," Jess replied. 

"We need to finish up that conversation we were having before you bailed," Luke said, turning serious.

"We did," Jess stated. 

"You can't have girls in the closet, Jess."

"We are not discussing this again," Jess said, heading towards his room.

"Do not walk away from this," Luke said firmly. 

Luke's tone of voice caught Jess off guard and he stopped walking. "Alright, what else do you have to say?" Jess asked.

"I know she hurt you. I don't know how, but I know she did. But bringing another girl into the picture isn't going to help that at all. You're fooling yourself if you think that it'll make everything better," Luke said. He had had the evening to mull over what Jess said. Jess was right about Lorelai, but Luke knew he was right about Rory.

"Hmm, that sounds like a wonderful philosophical revelation, but it's just too bad that I have no idea what you are talking about," Jess lied. 

"You're only fooling yourself," Luke warned.

"And what about you, huh? Aren't you just fooling yourself when you convince yourself every time you see her that you are satisfied just being her coffee god, her handyman, her golden retriever?" Jess said angrily. Luke had no right to act superior to Jess.

"That is a different story," Luke said, rising out of the couch he was sitting in and advancing towards Jess.

"Yeah? How so? Enlighten me," Jess dared.

"I've accepted the fact that I like her and she doesn't have those types of feeling for me," Luke explained.

"So have I," Jess snapped back.

"Have you?" Luke asked incredulously.

"You kinda have to when she kisses you, doesn't talk to you for six weeks, and then comes back to her boyfriend like nothing's happened." 

"Rory did that?" Luke asked, completely surprised.

"Yup," Jess said coldly.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't need pity," Jess spat back.

"I don't give you pity. At least you got to kiss her, more than I can say for myself," Luke said, smiling slightly. 

Jess smirked. They were in the same situation after all. 

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"Jess, I'm bored," Shane whined while they were in his room. 

Without even looking up from his page in his book, he tossed her a book from the floor. 

"What do you want me to do with this?" she asked, as if it were a diseased cat. 

"Read it," Jess said, writing notes in the margins of his book.

"_Farewell to Arms_? Yuck, boring," Shane said, tossing to book back to him.

Jess' head snapped up. He was just about to run off all the reasons why Hemmingway wasn't boring when he realized who he would be talking to...someone who really didn't give a hell as to what he had to say on literature anyway. He sighed quietly. 

He got off the bed and walked out of his room. 

"Hey, where are you going?" Shane yelled.

"Away from here," Jess replied. 

He was beyond frustrated, beyond disgusted, beyond any and all feeling whatsoever. Why the hell did he get himself into such a pointless relationship to begin with? Oh yeah, cause Rory treated him like dirt and he was now through liking girls who he knew were better than him. Shane wasn't better than him. That's why he got involved with her. It all made sense now...well, no it really didn't. 

He walked out of the diner, and towards his relief. He wondered what he would do if the bridge wasn't there. Why did he like that piece of rotting wood anyway? He couldn't answer that. There was just a sense of peace there that he needed so badly. 

He never took Shane there, he never would. 

As he walked through the thicket, he froze. There would be no peace today. Rory was sitting there. 

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Please review, thanks a lot!!


	2. His Hemmingway

Author's Note: WOW!! I didn't expect to get that many reviews on my first chapter. Thanks so much for your support! This chapter contains major spoilers, just to warn you. I think I'll have one more chapter and then that's it, remember it's a short little fic. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the story! Please Read/Review!

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Jess watched Rory sit there for a few seconds. Her legs dangled over the edge of the bridge and her eyes were downcast to the water. She could have been a statue, she was sitting so still. 

She must have heard his rustling because she quickly snapped out of whatever trance she was under and turned her head towards him. For a moment, Jess thought he saw happiness in her eyes, but that was soon covered up by fear and resentment. 

He braced himself for whatever might happen and approached her. She had already turned her head back towards the water when he sat down beside her. The silence that enveloped them was awkward but not deathly unpleasant. Neither struggled to find anything to say because neither really wanted to speak. The silence continued for minutes. 

Finally Jess broke it. Not because he was uncomfortable with the silence, but because he wanted to hear her voice in reply. 

"Shane thinks Hemmingway is boring," he said, trying to read Rory's reaction to this statement.

Rory jumped slightly at hearing his voice, she was lost in her own thoughts. She smiled slightly, turning her head towards him. "Well, I guess she does have a brain after all," she replied. 

Jess was just about to start a debate with her but instead replied seriously, "She's never even read him."

Rory raised her eyebrows and nodded her head a little. "I see," she said quietly. "Well, at least she has the right opinion on Hemmingway," she added, testing Jess' reaction.

Jess looked at her incredulously. "Since when do you defend Shane?" he asked her bluntly.

Rory hesitated for a second. "I'm not defending Shane, just her viewpoint on Hemmingway," she stated simply.

"Which is totally illegitimate since she never read his work," Jess responded hotly. The thought of Shane dissing Hemmingway annoyed Jess more than Rory could have guessed.

"Hemmingway was an egotistical drunkard," Rory said.

"So was everyone in the Lost Generation. C'mon, Fitzgerald? That's not a good reason," Jess said, secretly relishing in the fact that they were talking again.

"Okay, yeah, Fitzgerald had his set of problems. But you cannot tell me that _The Great Gatsby_ wasn't an amazingly poignant book," Rory commented.

"Alright, I grant you that. But how can you say that _Old Man and the Sea_ wasn't either. He's talking about all his writings, his joy, his life getting eaten up by critics who just want to tear his existence out because they don't like the way he writes or what he writes about. The symbolism with the beautiful fish, the old man, and the sharks was beyond poignant," Jess replied. 

That's exactly what he felt when Shane said that Hemmingway was boring. Something that was very important to him, his love of reading, was completely dismissed by a girl who probably had a reading level of a fourth grader. 

Rory thought about this for a while. The passion with which Jess spoke could have been enough to convince her that Hemmingway was the best writer of all time, had she not read Hemmingway herself. "I understand your point, I just can't agreed. Hemmingway doesn't speak to me like other writers do, but if he speaks to you, that's fine," she said. 

Jess nodded. He was slightly flushed from talking so passionately with Rory, something he hadn't done in months. He missed it. 

"So, uh, why are you here?" Rory asked.

"Cause Shane said Hemmingway sucks," Jess said.

Rory chuckled. "I get it." 

Silence followed. Rory needed to ask him this question that was eating at her for weeks now, but it really wasn't any of her business anyway. The worst Jess could do was snap at her and walk away and they'd be back to where they were twenty minutes ago. She needed to ask.

"Jess, why are you with her?" Rory asked quietly.

The gentleness with which Rory spoke caught Jess off guard. 

"Why not?" Jess replied, tensing up just a little. 

"Cause you can do better," Rory replied honestly.

"Obviously not," Jess replied coldly, anger seeping into his voice. 

If he could do better, then Rory would like him and they'd be together. But they weren't together. He had convinced himself while she was in D.C. that he didn't deserve better than Shane. And that was the crux of it all: Rory's actions made him believe that he didn't deserve her. 

"What? Yes, you can," Rory stated firmly, annoyance filled her.

"No, I can't," Jess replied, trying to control himself. The last thing he wanted to do was to blow up at her and show his weaknesses to her. Wait, what weaknesses? He had no weaknesses. 

"She's not right for you. What do you guys have in common? Have you had an intelligent conversation with her? Ever?" Rory asked, unable to control her questions.

"That's not how our relationship works," he replied.

"So you guys just make out and that's it?" Rory asked, her frustration rising. 

"Yeah, basically. But why do you care? Why are you here anyways? Aren't you supposed to be somewhere with Dean?" Jess asked cruelly. He didn't need his actions to be attacked, so he attacked hers.

"I'm here because I don't want to be anywhere else," Rory replied, hoping that Jess would understand the underlying meaning in her words.

Jess heard it, but ignored it too. "Dean'll get pissed. Then he'll start his whole 'keep away from Rory' shit," Jess said, annoyed.

"No, he won't. He broke up with me," she stated simply.


	3. Desires

Author's Note: Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for the reviews. I really appreciate them. Thank you also for those you who put this story on your favorites list, that means so much! I'll be reading and reviewing your stories too, have no fear. There's one more chapter after this, remember, it's a very short fic. Enjoy!

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It felt like the wind was knocked out of Jess. Confusion swept over him. This was what he wanted all along, but now that it happened, well, what now? He could dump Shane without qualms and restart a friendship with Rory free from the Neanderthal, but would it be the same? No. Did he want a friendship with Rory? No. He wanted Rory."When?" Jess managed to say calmly.

"About three hours ago," Rory said.

"Why?"

"He said that we had grown apart and that it wasn't right to be with someone if you were holding them back from being with someone they wanted to be with more. He said that he should have done that a long time ago, but he kept on hoping that it was just a phase, that I'd get over it, but I didn't and he knew it. So he broke up with me," she said, trying to hold back the tears. 

She wasn't about to cry because she loved Dean and missed him, she was going to cry because she knew he was right. She felt so guilty. She had been such a terrible girlfriend to string him along. 

No matter in how many ways she broke the mold in kindness, politeness, intelligence, wit, or analysis of literature, she was a typical teenager when it came to emotions. She was fickle and she now saw it. No matter how many PRO/CON lists she made to convince herself that Dean was right for her and Jess was wrong, she wanted Jess more than anything while still holding onto Dean. How could she be that cruel to him? 

And then she kissed Jess and bailed on him without saying anything or actually finishing a letter to him. Nothing. She thought was a terrible friend to string Jess along too. She didn't deserve either of them. She didn't deserve anyone. God, what was wrong with her? Wasn't she a good person? If she was, then why was she feeling this bad? She began to cry.

"Hey, uh, I'm sorry, don't cry, please?" Jess said, not moving towards her to comfort her, though he really wanted to. He really wasn't sorry wither that she and Dean broke up, but it seemed appropriate to say to a crying girl. 

Crying girls always made him so uncomfortable. The fact that she was crying after what she just told him verified for Jess that Rory didn't want him but Dean; and now Dean didn't want her thinking that she wanted Jess. God, this was all so confusing. 

"Sorry," Rory said, quickly wiping away the tears and composing herself, which she did quite well. 

"I guess you really loved him, huh?" Jess asked quietly as he looked out to some bubbles surfacing on the water.

Rory didn't answer immediately. She thought about the pros and cons of telling Jess the truth, but immediately stopped making the mental list and followed her instincts instead. 

"No, I didn't," she replied. 

Jess' head swung back to her. "What?" he asked, completely confused.

"There was a time, yeah, but three hours ago, no, I didn't love him anymore," she said sadly. 

"Then why the hell were you crying?" he asked her.

She didn't respond. 

"Rory?" Did that mean that what Dean said was true? Jess' heart leapt for a second, but reality set in again. Rory had said nothing to him to make him think such things.

"It's complicated, Jess," she replied.

Dismissed. She dismissed him, again. He was tired of being dismissed. Jess was so annoyed with her. What kind of game was she playing? 

"Whatever, I don't give a shit," he replied angrily, getting up to leave. 

Rory sighed with frustration. Why couldn't she just tell him? Cause he was with Shane. But Shane didn't matter to him, he basically said that. 

"No, Jess, wait, I'm sorry," Rory blurted out.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" Jess replied nonchalantly, though he knew there was so much she should be sorry for.

"Everything. I've treated both you and Dean terribly and it took me staring at the murky water for three hours to finally realize how horrible I've been. I'm sorry, I'm sorry if I hurt you cause I never wanted to," she said.

"Well, you did hurt me, Rory, badly. I leave this crap town and you go to New York to find me just because 'I didn't say goodbye.' Then when I come back, you act all happy and kiss me! A kiss with no explanation, no phone call, no letter, no nothing. How do you think that made me feel, huh? Or did you think that cause I'm the "town delinquent," as Taylor puts it so eloquently, that I don't have feelings?" Jess spat back furiously. He had managed to keep majority of his frustration inside ever since Rory got back, but not anymore; he no longer wanted to. 

Rory flinched at his attack. "I...I know you have feelings. I wanted to call, to explain. I have all these unfinished letters to you from D.C. I'm sorry...I..." 

"You just basically said to yourself _'screw Jess' feelings, they don't matter' _every time you thought about calling or writing but never did," he replied, cutting her off.

"No! Stop, that wasn't it! I was just confused, and I know that's no excuse but it's the truth," she replied desperately.

"The truth is that you don't think I deserve you. You think that that you could have your safety net boyfriend and the me at your fingertips. Dean saw it, and so do I and that's not how it's gonna be," Jess said angrily, immediately regretting saying that to her. Why could he never keep his mouth shut around her? It would be so much easier that way. 


	4. Contentment

Author's Note: YAY, more reviews! Thank you for all the support and corrections on my story. I must have had a brain fart when I put Beatnik Generation instead of Lost Generation, please forgive the misinformation. Thank you for your generous time in reading and reviewing, but I'm afraid this short story comes to a close now. I hope you like the ending, I tried to find something appropriate for our heroes while trying to keep them in character. Hope you enjoyed reading this story, and thank you all again for the reviews.

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Rory looked at him and turned a shade whiter. "How can you think that?" she asked quietly. He couldn't believe that, could he?

"Forget it, that was stupid," Jess said, walking away. 

She stood there for a second, trying to think of how he could ever think that he didn't deserve her. Then it all clicked. _Damn!, _she thought. She ran over to him, grabbing his arm and turning him around to face her, which he did reluctantly. 

She struggled to find something to say to convince him that she never thought he wasn't good enough for her.

"What, Rory?" Jess asked flatly.

"I screwed up badly, I know that. And I really am sorry because I didn't want to hurt either you or Dean, but I did. I'm a fickle, selfish, uncaring..."

"Rory..." Jess said, cutting her off. Sure she made mistakes, but he didn't think she was any of those things she listed.

Rory continued. "The thing is that I was in denial, I thought that I couldn't have feelings for you because I had a boyfriend and girlfriends aren't supposed to feel attracted to anyone but their boyfriends, right? But I was fooling myself because I knew I wanted you all along. I'm sorry that what I did made you think that you didn't deserve me, cause that wasn't it at all. It was more of a 'cause I was so crappy to Dean, I needed to make it up to him and I didn't deserve to be happy by being with you' thing. And my desires didn't even matter since you had Shane, well, actually, you're still with Shane," she ended her speech quietly. 

Shane, she was never so jealous of a girl before, not because she wanted that kind of superficial relationship with Jess, but because she desperately wanted to be on the receiving end of his kisses. 

Jess was in shock. Rory was basically saying that she didn't deserve him. The town princess not deserving the town rebel? Okay, weird, very weird. 

"Jess? Please say something," Rory begged. 

Jess snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her. "I have to go do something, I'll be back in ten minutes, please don't go anywhere," Jess said, walking away. 

"What? Jess?" Rory called out, but Jess didn't answer as he walked back to the diner.

Rory couldn't believe that she told him everything and he just walked out on her. What could be so important that he'd just walk away without saying anything? Stealing another gnome? This was a mistake, she should just go home and forget about Jess. Well, six weeks in D.C. didn't make her forget about Jess, going home wouldn't either. What would happen now? She was scared, scared of being rejected by the one person who she really wanted. Would he forgive her, would he let her in? She hoped so. 

She sat back down on the bridge, waiting for Jess to come back.

As promised, about ten minutes later, Jess walked back and sat next to her.

"What was so important that you had to walk away from me right after I spilled my guts to you?" Rory asked, not bothering to conceal her hurt and anger.

"I broke up with Shane," Jess replied, ignoring her tone of voice.

Rory looked shocked. "Oh," she said quietly. It all made sense now. "So, what now?" Rory asked.

Jess shrugged in reply. "But I want you to know that I forgive you, for all of it, I mean, it's stupid not to," Jess said. He felt so much freer without Shane now, but he was scared out of his mind about the unknown future he had with Rory. But, hey, he at least had a future with Rory.

He thought about Luke, strangely enough, and what he said earlier. Yeah, Jess had been fooling himself, Luke wasn't stupid after all. Jess secret hoped that Luke would get some action with Lorelai eventually, but he wasn't about to be matchmaker. He had his own stuff to deal with, and it was sitting next to him right now. He smiled.

"Thanks," Rory replied, smiling as well. 

"We all deserve some happiness, eh?" Jess stated rather than questioned. 

Rory smiled wider, understanding what he meant.

She looked priceless, and Jess couldn't resist any longer. He leaned in and kissed her. Passion that was pent up for months was finally released in that solitary kiss. Breathless, they parted, only to continue kissing once they took in more oxygen. Jess would never know exactly how long they kissed for, but he would remember that it soothed him completely. Jess sighed with relief - Rory didn't run away this time. 

He laid down on the bridge and Rory laid down beside him, resting her head on his shoulder and wrapping her arm around his waist. She was content. She started to fall asleep next to him, and all Jess could do was grin madly. _Yeah, this would definitely work_, he thought. This was exactly what he wanted, what he needed. He closed his eyes, listened to Rory's shallow breaths beside him, and drifted off to sleep as well. He was finally at peace. 

THE END.

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I hope I did justice to Rory and Jess. I wrote this before the "Oasis" episode, so please keep that in mind. **To all my reviewers**: I'm in the process of reading your work, you guys have fabulous ideas and keep it up. Thanks again for the support, it's wonderful to know people are reading my work. I don't know when I'll be writing again, probably when the inspiration hits me. Best of luck to you all!


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